X-ray angle indicator



H. .Ph RAPER.

RAY ANGLE INDICATOR.

atente Mar. 7, 19224.l

3 SHEETS-*SHEET 1.

H. R. RAPEE.

X-RAY ANGLE RNDIGATOR,

APPLICATION K{ILE JAN. 3, i921.l

UNITED? STATES PATENT 1 ori-ICE- noWAnD RILEY, nAPEa, or ALBUQUERQE, NEWMexico.'

x-RAY ANGLE INDICATQR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I atemeuv Mar; 7;- 1922.'

Application mea January' a'i'azi'.' seIiaiNo. 434,774.

. Tol all whom it may concern.

`. l'Be it'kno'wn'th'at I, HoWAizn Rina Rnrnii, a' citizen of the UnitedStates'res ding at. erque, in the' county of, Bernalillo and 'btate of.New Mexico, have .invented 4certain new' and useful;l Improvements fin'X-Bay Angle ndicators, of 'which the following is a specification.'

' j This invention 'relates to an- X-rayangle indicatorfor use onX-raymachines to show the an'gile at- Wh'ich-the 'X-ray tubeis'incl'ined to ythe horizontal,I and is particularly' adapt ed 'toinform the operator-'ofthe correct range of anglesfor inclining theX-raytubeinh'dental radiography, although useful in radiography 'of' anypart of the craniumand the ,body v'vherever it is' necessary'to-,inclinethe' tubel to .a-pr'edetenmined angle to obtain.

- a desired result.,

yao

'As my invention has particular usefulness in `'dentalradiographyg'it'is he-reinaftergdef the invention to that branch ofradiography (alone.- I t is to be understood, however, that 135. f tain'a 'radiograph o f-any particular tooth,

scribed 'as adaptedy for thatv purpose; but itis-to be understood thatthe spe'cifiedisclosure and .explanation in-that connection is'not to bedeemedas restricting the -application of one -branch of ,the inventionis specific to dental radiography, towit, thedial- Which I haveinvented, based on much researchv Work and manyexp'eri'ments', which hasangles andv 'indicia Whi'chthe operatorlof the X-raay' lmachine mayaccurately' predetermine angleto the horizontal vat which the'cone theor .tube of the machine should be set to ob- Whether molar, cuspid,bi'cuspid or inclsor, and on either the uppenor `lower Jaw, whichwillaccurately .disclose the conditions pres vailing at that particularytoot-h and t'liusgen` able diagnoseswthin reasonable Ilim1tat1ons ofaccuracy; to beobtained,

n respect to the' other branch ,of my vention, the combination ofanangle' 1n,- d-ica'tingdial .and `a pointer, or a dial'and plumb andpointer,I and disregardmg the special dental v ind icia, lthe inventlonha's a Wider range ffsefulness than-in dental radiography yas it enableslthe'. X-ray tube vto be properly' inclinedv to make radiographsv of theCranium and any desired part of the body.

The art of .radiography involves the prin` ciple of casting shadows,toWit, a vsource of light, an object, and a screen or'surface on whichthe shadow falls. In dental X-ray -gvorln` the X-ray tube correspondsto. the

ource of light, the tooth and'thec'ontinglk ous parts to theobjectf'l'id the surface of the4 film to Ithe screen' on which thelshadow; 601' 1st-last. A

Depending I on. the` relationship "existing between' the light,.theobject -and the surface,ai shadowzm ay assume the true ormiofj. -theob]ect, or, it may. assu-nie a fantastic,`fz65f, Vdistorted formthereof. l'ttherefore-becornes' necessary v'inorder ,to obtain -a trueshadow,"

against' the tissues close to the teeth, two of 80 the material 4factorshave been taken' care of. v -The 'third factor' is the adjustment 'ofthe X- ray tube'in correct ,position ,to`f obtain thecorrectradiographic image. 1'-

,Heretofore' .the -'opera tor ohthe jX-ray' 85 machine hasdpendedsolelyupoxi judgment'. or" natural 4aptitude or intuitionl yfor..the.

4proper angular arrangement of the 4tube to" meet 'any given conditionandofbject as to" whether a-'Jtrue ordistorted .radiograph is,90'desired. For, it willy bev understood, that distortion, i. .,,elongationof the picture to1 a moderate degree, sometimes affords a better' viewof certain' disease conditions than a..

true picture would disclose andvwhich fore-y 9'5"' shortening 'wouldcompletely. obscure. l Some. operatorsy obtain a picture ofl the ends'ofthe roots at. the expnse'of good reproducv tion of the lbalance ofthefteeth, while others 'obtain good pictures. of ,the teeth andyet-10G.

appearunable to catch the endof'throot. on the film'. l Other operators'appear unable to approximate the ,proper angle for'any vgiven tooth."

From the. foregoing, and a' vvide lva.rile/ty. of 105 other causes,dental. radiography'l `has not heretofore insured inclusion-inthesradiofgraph. of 'all conditions. prevailing the tooth .orv teeth receivingattitudini.

My invention-accomplishes t'wo purposes: 'llo First, it discloses theexact angle to' the hori'- 'zontal at 'which the X-'ray tube lis set,

Whether it be inclined iipwai'diy or down- Wardly;

formation to the dental radiographer of the ranges o1' limits of onglesofen); given tooth,

Whether4 molar, ousfpi'd, bieuspid or ineisor obtained. The inventiontherefore leaves little to the judgment or' intuition or sense of-position on the 'part of the operator, end

saves time, eort, and expense in this @lessA of Work.

I am aware that `my invention may be `embodied in other forms time thosehereinv `15 I after deseribed and Whioli ere shown in the accompanyingdrawing. And, further,

l"tliflt the angle markings and indicia ofthe .not to be considered 'inli y vention is used vto determine the anglel of params;

lshown in dotted lines;

dial which comprise en invention aside from' the use of e pointer and eplumb., may be employed on la Aportafolio or liend-oerried indicatorinstead of being` attached to' the X-ray machine.l l i i The disclosureof the. inventionl hereinafter given is, therefore, to :be considered asillustrative ont the invention and not in limitation elf the scopethereof or the utilisation ofthe essentiel principles involved.

'n my application, Serial No. 434,775,1iied dan. 3,19%, have viiselosedother forms the invention may assume; but this, also, is

tation of the 11iverltion.

'in the accompanying drmvings:--- .ifigure l is e, viewsiiowing themanner in which a. portable' embodiment ofthe ininolinati'on of thevtube of ein X-revap- `Fig.`2 is a detaii View of tiresome forro of theinvention as shown io. F 1g. l, the X-ray tube' andA eene or cylinderbeing Fig. 3 is a'. detail section on line fzlm,

Fig. 2;

, Fig. 4 is aside elevation. of en eml'aodi mentv of the'einventioiiwherein the i 1l is rotatably mounted vori the side oi the rey tube,cone or 'cylinder having :i fixed pointer 'orf top or indicator; ysindH'Fig. 5 is a diagram of an upper bieospid and two films, illustratingthe neoessity for inclination otiie X-ray tube et the proper en le. nFigp .ll have shown. certain of an X-ray apparatus which is providedwith. the X-ry tube i'. My invention may be portable, or, carried 'bythe 1oottoiiil side,

of the 'oone la' of the tube. lo the particular embodiment oi theinvention illustrated-in Figs. l, 2,3 of the d ernstigs, the angleindicator is :in the form of e portabie device Wloieiil is 'heidV in theepe-rehowever, be etteolied to the cone in any desired or pretrredmeriner, as shown, for instance, inl eig.

tors hand, tmay,

and'seeond, it furnishes instant iii-v molars, bicuspids,

meer?? tion is embodied in portable form, as disclosed in Figs. i, L,25, the diei 2 muy be provided with a handleQX-Whieh is grasped by v'theoperator. The dial may, however, loe Carried by a'siipportiiig stand, orby bracket on the X-ray apparatus. The dial Q., when rotatably mountedon the eene la', as shown in e, is, in effect, e port of' the -rey tubeand is adopted to oe moved up and down, or latere-iig', with seid tube.

in any Veno'bodirrient of the invention tile dial may oe either opaqueor transparent, Carriedby tliedial is rit-dangling plumb 3. ReferringtoFigs. l, 2, iiithis forro e sei-table pointer 'ai is pivoted centrallyof the dial, as at 5. The pointer may beef some distinctive Lcolo-r, ifdesired. The set table pointer e is 'iietionelly held et the pivot to ladegree suiioient to maintain 'it in any position to Whieli it may beswung.' Referring 'to Fig. 4i, the dial '2 is shown oivotally mountedet6 on the side of the come l in any suitable so thatsaid dial is bodilyoerriedlby the eene. The eolie lal is provided with a, stetionerypointeror arrow 4a.

In both forms of the 'invention hereto- `ore described, the reading istaken et R. l By research and experiment I here die covered that thereare certain ranges or limits of angular disposition of the K ra-y tubeWithin which the operator must keep when radiograplling molars,bicuspids, in-

Voisors and cuspide on the upper jaw and that entirely different rangesof angles must be observed when taking Lrey pictures .of

incisore and cuspide on the ewer aw'. A'These angles are as oliows:

Upper teeth..

Upper ineisors, from 350 to 45o ebove the horizontal.

Cuspids, from 40C to 5Go above the'liorimotel.

-Bieuspids, from 250 to 400 above the liorisentiti.'

1deins,` from 25-O to 350 above 'the horizent-el.

Lower teeth..

,from 50 to l5@ below Feilure to obtain accurate and Complete .1

radiographs Wili result' rif these limits 'are riot observed.iindoiibtedly the 'failure or operators vto obtain 'proper raifliogrephsof any given 'tooth lies been the result oi' leek. oi knowledge *of theproper ongle (Within taking of al radiograph of a vparticular y tooth. i

Radiating from the center of the dial on 4the quadrants 2 1 and 2b, resectively, are

lines T, indicating the di erentangles, eachhne being provi-ded with theangle designation. as 10, Q0, 30, etc.

The word molar is provided on the dial between the angles representingthe limits of inclination of the tube 1 for X-raying a molar. Forinstance, Qn the quadrant 2* the word molar runs from the angle line 25to the angle line 35 for upper teeth. Similarly. asthe proper range ofangular dis position for 'bicuspids is between 25 and 400 for upperteeth. the word bicuspitls isz provided `and comprehended between theiangle lines Q5 and 10 on the quadrant 2a.. The word incisors appearsbetween the angle lines 35 and 45 for upper teeth. The word cuspidsappearsbetween the angle lines 10 and 50 for upper teeth on quadrant 2a.

' To further assistthe operator colors may be employed in the form ofmarkings corresponding to the ranges between angles. For instance. a redband 8 represents the range of angles for molars: a green band 9, therange for bicuspids: a yellow band 10. the range for incisors: and ablue band 11, the range for cuspids. i

As a further aid to the operator. pictures of the different teeth may beprovided as shown at 12, 13. 14. 415.

The same plan of indication and, identification heretofore described forthe quadrants Qa. 2* is carried out on the quadrants 2., :2d whichrepresent angles for lower teeth. Here the molars are represented asbetween 0 and 10. The bicuspids as between'5 and 15: the incisors andcuspids as between 10 and '20. The same color markings as abovedescribed. for instance. a red band 8 represents the range for molars; agreen band 9.y the range for bicuspids; a yellow band 10. ,the range forincisors and a blue band 11 cuspids.

Certain conditions are met with in X-ray dental work where there is amalformation or, tipping ot' the teeth.` The dial 2 may be provided withindicia representing proper angles at which the tube 1 should be set to`.neet such conditions, it desired, although is not shown. v

have ascertained by research that the shown at R.

following angles for the 'tube 1 should be observed Lower molars tippedaway to the lingual: 10? above the horizontal.

For extra-oral lateral dental radiographs: to T50' above the horizontal.

Iv'pper teeth with the film placed horizontally in the mouth: about 60above the horivfontal.

Upper molars when the vault is very high:

as low as 20o.

f If these angles are observed, about 90% of cases will be properlyradiographed; but iny extreme malposition of teeth, extreme angles arerequired.

The angles hereinbefore given are based on the assumption that the-Datients head will he so placed that the teeth will be disposedsubstantially vertically.

My invention has to do, more particularly. -with the inclination of theX-ray tube for vertical angles. The invention does not lend itselt` verywell to the determina# tion of horizontal angles, but as successfuldental radiography depends largely on the correct determination ofvertical angles, the invention provides means for insuring successfulradiographs in a very high percentage of cases.

Assuming, by way of illustration, that an upper molar is to beradiographed and that 30o (midway between the limits 25 and 30o) is theangle to which the tube 1 is to be set, this indication appearingon thequadrant 2b where the word molar and the red bandV 8 appear. theoperator immediately moves the pointer -1 to the 3()O point as 'Knowingthe particular tooth which is to beg-adiographed. the operator-s eyenaturally 'sets pointer at R to the word,

color and tooth representation on the dial Q.

In they example mentioned the pointer/i having first been set to the 30mark, and the device positioned'alongside the cone 1a with the plumb 3lined up with the vertical line ,having the arrow 8a, and the pointer 4:

pointing toward the patient, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. the tube l istilted downwardly until the pointer '-1 aligns with the longitudinalaxis of tube 1 or cone 1, It is then known that the tube is at theproper degree of inclination. Assuming that a lower bicuspid is to beradiographed by using the form of the invention shown vin Fig. 4, wherethe dial 2 is revolubly mounted on the side ot the cone 1a the dial isturned until the pointer 4 aligns with the 10G|mark at R; the operatorthen tilts the tube'l until the plumb 3 aligns with the vertical lineand arrow 8, whereupon the tube is at the proper angle to radiograph thetooth.

According to whether the tooth to be radiographed is on the upper orlower jaw,

the tube 1 must be tilted downwardly or up- `Wardly and; brought totheproper` prede termined angle, a'sthe case-maybe,

Fig. illustrates how it is possibie tol L' "Iniss an abscess attherootoian. upper? bicuspid if theX-'ray tube is inciineci at too great .anangle wheneasthe abcess will show i if the tube is inclined at thecorrect angle.

) WTF, is a film placecl in a more. or less vertiycal position in themonth; i-iifis a ihn placed horizontaily in the mouth, Theobcess vcavitywill register between iines A and B when the iX-rays are directed.through the parts as' indicatedby ariovviio. 1. But

" the abscess cavity will not show when the n a wir Xaajfs are directedthrough the parte indicatori by arrow No. 2. The piacing of lthe hlm inthe mouth horizontally (HF) necessitatesthe use of 4the high-aboveangie 1. An angle indicating chart. or dial for use in connectiony withX-ray machines, havlng angle indications anti teeth.l identiiyinggindicia associated therewith showing the con 1 rect range oft-angles'tor inclina-tion of tne Xray tube for any tooth.

2. An angle `indicating Chartier use in \connection. with Xia. machinescoin irising a disk oi' iiial snbciivicicci into ripper and lowersections, each having angie indications anfi teeth identifying ,indiciashowing the correct range oi angles for inclination. of the Xiay tubefor any. tooth, one oi said sections showing the correct `raiige ofangles for radiographing lower teeth and the othen section showing thecorrect range of angles for radiographing upper teeth.

3. An angle indicatinga chart 'for iise in connection with X-riymachines, said chart being in the form of a disk having diametersrepresenting vertical `and horizontal 'positions and4 being snb-ciivii`ied into. q iiacirants, each quaiirant having angle indicanominationfor tions and teeth identifying indicia snowing` the correct range ofangles for inclination oii the X-ray tube. l

2a.. An 'Ei-ray angle indicator-forum in connection with, t-raymachines, comprising a' .chart or. dial having angle, indications andteeth identifying indicia showing the c0rrect range loi angies forinciination of the iI-raytube for any tcjioth, and an indicating device.adapted to point ont ,angles thereon.|

fin )lray angie indicator for use in' connection with X-ray machines,coniiprlsmg-` a chart having angie indications and teeth identifyingnciicia -showing the correct range oi angles 'for inclination of theyX-ray 'tube for any tooth, a pininb arranged to co.-operatel `iv tor toindicate the angles on said chart..

6. The combination with the X-ray tiibe oi an X-ray machine, of apinotailyinonnted angie in'fiicating `chart having angle indications andteeth identifying indicia showingl of the Xiay tube for any tooth. 4

7 `The combination with the X-ray tube ofjan Xmay inachine,'of apivotally mounted angie indicating chart havinga'ngle indications andteeth identliying indicia showing 75 thecorrect range oi angles 'forinciination oi the X-ray tube for any tooth, and an iiicheating deviceadapted to' point out onnthe chart anyy angle represented thereon.

8. An X-ray connection with Xfray machines,- comprising a chart havingangle indications and teeth identifying' indicia 'showing the correct`range of angles forlinciination ofthe X-r'ay tnbe for any' 'which'y ismovable: in relation'to the chart and is adapted to point out anglesthereon, i a settable pointer adapted to be moved to any vangle positiono plumb cooperating iv'ith which the pointer may be brought intoalignment.- i f in testimony 4whereof i aiiix myy si nature HOWRD RELEXRA ER.

ith said;v chart, and an indica the correctwrange of angles forinciination angle indicator forhse in tooth,y an indicatingl device ifsaid-chart, and af the chart and' With-90

